OTHER EVENTS

NEWS

Warhawk Spotlight: Students First:

Student hones Spanish with patients, doctors in Mexico

Students love AUM for its small classrooms and for close working relationships with professors, but AUM also puts students first by helping them study in classrooms and settings thousands of miles away.

Honors students help clean up Baton Rouge

A group of students in the AUM University Honors Program traveled to Baton Rouge, La., August 26–28 to volunteer in the aftermath of the recent severe flooding in southern Louisiana.

The group partnered with students at the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at Louisiana State University who provided lodging and coordinated the work assignments.

AUM students who took part were Jasmine Boutdy, Victoria Byrne, John Forrest, Brennan Herring, Elizabeth Meads, Rachel Pate, Alex Stephens, Matthew Taunton, and Arri Torres. Honors Program Director Matthew Jordan and Honors Recruiting and Advising Coordinator Kelsey Hayes traveled with the students as well.

While the water has receded in much of the affected area, many homes and businesses have been ruined and thousands of residents remain displaced.

AUM students helped to remove drywall, insulation, and flooring that had been damaged by the flooding in several homes in Baton Rouge.

The team worked tirelessly all weekend before making a pit stop in New Orleans to celebrate a job well done. While in New Orleans, students briefly explored the French Quarter and enjoyed beignets and café au lait at the world famous Café du Monde!

On the journey, the AUM team members received many “thank yous” from the people they encountered, and it was very apparent that the work of the AUM students made a positive, lasting impact in the Baton Rouge community.

The mission of the University Honors Program is to engage students in the development and demonstration of teamwork, leadership, and global citizenship, and these principles were fully embodied in Baton Rouge.

Students: Be aware of your rights

According to The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), students have a number of rights, including rights to review educational records, seek amendment of inaccurate and misleading information, provide written consent before disclosure of information, and more.

Havard publishes two essays

Dr. John Havard, assistant professor of English in the Department of English and Philosophy, published two essays over the past year: Slavery and the emergence of the African-American novel in The Cambridge Companion to Slavery in American Literatureand Mary Peabody Mann’s Juanita and Martin R. Delany’s Blake: Cuba, Urban Slavery, and the Construction of Nation in College Literature.

Wanyun Shao, an assistant professor of Geography in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Geography, recently published a solo-authored paper entitled, “Weather, climate, politics, or God? Determinants of American public opinions toward global warming” in the journal Environmental Politics.

The author finds that evangelical fundamentalism is the most consistent factor among all religion-related variables in determining perceptions of global warming, those more oriented toward evangelical fundamentalism being less likely than others to believe in the existence, anthropogenic cause, and adverse impact of global warming.

In addition, support for the Tea Party plays a dominant role in determining views of global warming; support for the Tea Party leading to higher likelihood of disbelief in the existence, anthropogenic cause, and negative impact of global warming.

Warming winters coupled with cooling springs of the past decade are positively related with belief in the existence of global warming.

In the “Understanding perceptions” paper, Shao teamed up with researchers at Princeton University, Louisiana State University, and Texas A&M. They find that the characteristics of hurricane strength associated with the most recent landfall are much more closely associated with perceptions of changing hurricane strength than objectively measured trends.

They also find that people’s belief in climate change play a powerful role in one’s perception of changing hurricane strength. Political predispositions are found to affect one’s perceptions of changing hurricane strength.

Compared to Democrats and Independents, Republicans are far less likely to believe that climate is changing and thus they tend to not believe that hurricanes are becoming stronger.

Graduate Student Welcome

All graduate students are invited to Graduate Student Welcome in the AUM Library on Sept. 7–8.

The come-and-go event will allow attendees to learn the various resources that the AUM Library, Warhawk Academic Success Center and the Learning Center/ISL provide specifically for graduate students. Refreshments will be served.

Political Film Series kicks off with ‘Wag the Dog’

Get ready for another semester of exciting films in the Political Film Series sponsored by the Department of Political Science and Public Administration and the College of Public Policy and Justice. All films start at 7 p.m. with an introduction to the film subject and context. Audience discussion will follow the screenings.

The first film, Wag the Dog (1997; R), is a bold political satire illustrating in exaggerated fashion media spin and the so-called rally effect during a presidential election campaign. It stars Dustin Hoffman and Robert DeNiro.

The film will be introduced by Dr. Pia Knigge, assistant professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, and is co-sponsored by the Student Government Association.

Author, AU Foundation Chair Gossom Jr. to speak

Thom Gossom Jr., the first black athlete to graduate from Auburn University in 1975 and a native or Birmingham, Ala., will speak Sept. 14 at AUM.

Gossom Jr., the author of a new short story collection called The Slice of Life, wrote his first book, Walk-On, now in its third printing, about the experience of walking on to the Auburn football field in 1970, earning a scholarship and becoming a three-year starter.

Now Chair of the Auburn University Foundation, Gossom Jr. is also a member of the Auburn’s Football Letterman’s Club and the Advisory Board for the Via College of Osteopathic Medicine at Auburn University. He is a recipient of the 2013 Distinguished Athlete Award from the Greater Birmingham Auburn Club and was named an AT&T Alabama African American History Calendar Honoree in 2014.

Clemson professor to speak at Montgomery area mathematics colloquium

Dr. James Coykenall, Professor of Mathematics at Clemson University, will speak on “Factorization in Commutative Rings: An Example-Oriented Introduction” at the Montgomery area mathematics colloquium Sept. 23, sponsored by AUM’s Department of Mathematics and supported by the AUM Lecturer’s Program.

Coykenall earned his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Cornell University. He has obtained many awards in research and teaching. In particular he was the recipient of 2005 Carnegie Foundation U.S. Professor of the Year award. He also holds editorial positions at several journals and has published numerous papers. He is frequently an invited speaker at many conferences and at many universities.

Coykenall’s talk will look at relevant questions in factorization, highlight some of the big (and sometimes surprising) results, and take a short tour of the macabre, yet beautiful, zoo of examples that can be found in the study of factorization.

REMINDERS

Library accepting food for fines

Starting Sept. 1, you may now pay overdue library fines by bringing non-perishable food items to the AUM Library Circulation Desk. One food item will pay for up to $1.50 in overdue fines, and all collected items will be donated to the AUM Food Pantry.

While this program will not be applicable to fines and fees on lost or damaged items or interlibrary loan (ILL) charges, the AUM Library encourages individuals with overdue library fines to take advantage of this new program.

Flu shots available

Student Health Services is administering the yearly flu vaccine. Appointments are not necessary.

The vaccine will be administered from 9–11 a.m. and 1–4 p.m. Monday through Friday for students, faculty and staff, and dependents age 3 years and up. The cost is $25. Cash, checks and credit cards will be accepted, and no insurance will be filed.

‘Let’s Talk’ encourages student-counselor dialogue

The AUM Counseling Center on Aug. 23 is beginning a campus outreach program open to all AUM students called “Let’s Talk.”

“Let’s Talk” is an informal, pre-counseling opportunity in which students can meet with a counselor without making an appointment. Students can talk about whatever is important to them, much as they might talk with a resident assistant or an academic advisor.